Cross country vehicle



June 21, 1938. O. DAUS CROSS COUNTRY VEHICLE Filed June 16, 1936 Ayz n/ltorney Patented June 21, 1938 v 2,121,687 CROSS COUNTRY VEHICLE OttoDans, Hamburg, Germany 1 Application June 16, 1936, Serial No. 85,484

In Germany September 20, 1935 1 Claim.

My invention relates to motor-driven vehicles, and more particularlyvehicles designed for cross-country driving. Motor vehicles of this kindhaving front and rear driven axles have 5 already been built, but in theold constructions the power unit is mounted in such a way, that itsweight produces considerable stresses in the chassis and other parts,thereby also affecting the bearings, so that a free rocking of the samecan not take place. While in the old constructions an independent motoris provided for driving each axle, the motors are neither encompassed ina single block, nor are the axles free to rock, relative to a powerunit. 16 I The object of this invention is to design a mo tor-drivenvehicle suitably for cross-country driving, in which there is providedfor each axle a complete power unit comprising at least the drivingengine, gears, differential, a pair of 20 wheel-axles-and springs. Thesepower units are mounted on a tubularelement of the frame, preferably thefront power unit being mounted to oscillate relative to the said frame.Since the tubular frame-extends through the power unit, as many suchunits as desired can be mounted on the same frame Also the main tubularelement of the frame can be equipped with strong thrust rods anddraw-hooks. Because the front power unit with its center of gravitydirectly bears on the frame while the spring suspension of the axlesbears directly on the unit and not on the frame, the unit can freelyoscillate either to'the left or to the right, without any danger of arupture being thereby produced.

85 On the annexed more or less diagrammatic drawing, on which I haveshown by way of illustration an embodiment of this invention, Fig. 1 isa top plan view of the chassis of the vehicle, while Fig; 2 is a sideelevation thereof; and Fig.

40 3 is a vertical section takenat the rear of the vehicle and lookingin a forward direction, parts being omitted for the sake of clarity.

As shown in the drawing, the vehicle has a 4 frame I, upon thelongitudinal girder or "backbone 2 of which two driving assemblies orpower rang'ement and probably also the best from a mechanicalstandpoint.

As an alternative, a cranked backbone may we employed without anydeparture from the invention. Each power unit 3 and 3a respectively in-5 eludes itsown fuel tank 5 and carburator l. The power unit 3a at therear end of the chassis I is mounted in the same manner upon the tubularbackbone 2 and is fixedly secured thereto, as by being screwed and/orclamped thereon. Fig. 10

3 shows the unit 3a secured to the tubular backbone 2 by a screw 44which passes through a bearing portion 3b of the unit 3a. This figureshows also the unit 3 tilted in a counter-clockwise direction about thebackbone 2. The two 5 power units 3 and 3a are adapted to be clutchedand declutched and put into and out of gear either separately ortogether. Any slight differencesdn power or phasal differences in theturning moments of the two engines are sub- 20 stantially compensated inpractice by the reaction on the driving wheels of the ground traversed.The radiator 8 for the rear engine is preferably mounted laterallythereof and is associated with a suitable air intake in the cowling 25I0 indicated by broken lines and with the usual fan.

The front and rear pairs of wheels 4 can be steered conjointly byasteering shaft l2, running beneath the tubular backbone 2, steeringcontrol 30 being afforded by the usual hand steering wheel 45 in frontof the drivers seat. This coupled arrangement of the front andreardriving wheels 4 for steering purposes is such that when, for instance,the front wheels are locked over to the 35 left, the rear wheelssimultaneously lock over to the right, which enables very sharp cornersbeing taken.

Extra wheels 13 are mounted laterally of the vehicle about the middlethereof and their 49 mounting is such that these wheels can rotate andserve as supporting or carrying wheels when the vehicle is travelingover country of so rough a nature that the middle part of the chassiswould otherwise at times dangerously approach 45 the ground. Under theseconditions, the wheels l3 which, as can be seen from Fig. 2, do notnormally touch the ground, come into contact with any upstanding ridges,boulders or the like and thus help to support the weight of the vehicle0 so that the latter can continue to make progress through the drivetransmitted by one or the other pair of driving wheels. It is to beemphasized that the extra wheels, being mounted as to be above theordinary ground level, come into 5 scribed, including at least two pairsof driving wheels, separate axles for each pair of driving wheels, and aseparate motor driving unit for each pair of the driving wheels, atubular frame member extending completely through each of said drivingunits and comprising the sole sup-. port therefor, the axles of saiddriving wheels being operatively secured to the respective drivingunit-therefor, one of said driving units being rigidly secured to saidtubular member, and the other of said driving units being pivotallysecured to said tubular member.

O'I'I'O DAUS.

